Business
Second Life has a lot of business opportunities. Residents can earn money in many ways, including employment as various professions/jobs (dancer, DJ, etc), opening a store/vendor (separate or in a market with others), buying/selling land, scripting, building, etc. Second Life Business Because of the ability to exchange Linden Dollars for real world currencies, and vice versa, some 60,000+ users of SL earn "positive Linden flow", i.e. the money they make in their activities in SL exceeds their cost of playing so that they earn some amount of money converted to USD to their paypal or bank accounts. There are thousands of individuals who earn a significant percentage of, or all of their real life income via SL based businesses, some earning in excess of $2000 to over $5,000 per month. There is a wide range of businesses operating in SL, such as: Business Ventures * Land Barons - because individuals can own virtual land in SL, there naturally has arisen a brisk and large business in virtual real estate, from land sales and rentals on mainland sims controlled directly by Linden Lab, the owner of SL, to land sales and rentals in private "estate" sims that estate owners lease from Linden lab which they hold "estate powers" over (slightly less powerful than the God mode of Linden Lab employees). SL Land Baroness Anshe Chung appeared on the covers of several real world news and business magazines when her inworld assets reached a self proclaimed value of $1 million, with over 500 simulators under her control. * Builders - if you can imagine building anything, you can build it in SL. * Animation - avatars need animations and poses to look realistic doing or using just about any content: dances, weapons, combat, sports, vehicle operation, even simulated sex. * Scripting - making anything work in SL requires use of the LSL scripting language, and like in RL, LSL programmers can earn good money doing so. Notable scripters include Redux Dengaku, Nexii Malthus, Zwagoth Klaar, Ford Edelman, among others. * Textures - no build can look good without high quality textures. Many individuals create their own textures, but there are also significant texture selling businesses. * Capital Markets - in December 2007, the World Stock Exchange was formed by Lukeconnell Vandeverre and the building built by Land Baron IntLibber Brautigan. Read Capital Markets to get more info in this. * Strip Clubs and Escorts - strip clubs and escorting are lucrative businesses in SL, as "pixel sex" remains a major industry in the virtual world as it is on the internet and phone networks. * Fashion - anything a person in RL needs to wear, so to does an Avatar need, and so the fashion business is huge in SL, from shapes and skins to clothing, shoes, and other accessories. Business-to-Business Services Media There is a wide range of media opportunities in SL, from virtual newspapers and magazines, either as inworld objects or web-blogs focused on SL news, to machinima in the form of movies or tv-format entertainment, as well as radio stations and DJ operations. Marketing and Advertising The difference between marketing' and advertising is that goal of advertising is to sell more of your products, while marketing goal is to inform people that your product suits their needs. Marketing includes advertising as a part of marketing practice. Marketing Business owners can promote their services and goods in numerous ways, both on web and in Second Life. There are a bunch of companies who provide professional promotion services (check Advertising Networks). Some steps be performed manually (also read the Advertising for Free article). Advertising Second Life advertising opportunities include traditional services like web banners, e-zine publications and website promotion, as well as SL-specific advertising: adboards, SL Search promotion, social person-to-person advertising, profile picks and many more. Listing your business, goods and services Directories listing It's a good idea to list your business in major business listings - search Google for second life business listing to get the largest ones and submit your business there. Marketplaces If you create and sell SL stuff (any stuff, buildings, scripts, textures), list them at SL marketplaces. The most famous one is http://www.xstreetsl XStreetSL, former SL Exchange. They have been bought by Linden Labs in 2009. Unwarranted Business Opportunities These business activities are currently illegal and forbidden to perform and advertise in Second Life: * Casinos * Banking Links * Second Life jobs * Google listing of SL business directories * SL Business Directory - Second Life advertising network category:glossary category:culture category:economics Category:business